Jaha Koo, a theatre artist honoured with the International Ibsen award, speaks about his work that fuses South Korean and European culture through food, performance, and technology. Source: theguardian.com.
Cultural Identity Through Food
Koo’s new show, Haribo Kimchi, uses kimchi and Haribo gummies to explore his dual cultural identity.
When he moved from South Korea to Berlin, 10kg of his grandmother’s kimchi exploded on his balcony. It became ‘bloated like a dead whale’.
Kimchi is a Korean staple. Koo says it waited for him ‘before I was born’.
Recipes vary worldwide, but Koo says that doesn’t make them less authentic. In Belgium, he prepares kimchi to show cultural adaptation — a form of assimilation.
Theatrical Sensory Design
The show’s set is a pojangmacha — a Korean snack cart — offering simple, comforting food.
These carts are ‘soul places’ where people find comfort through shared meals.
The roof glows with translucent red light — a symbol of in-between states.
Each dish has emotional meaning. A kimchi pancake recalls his youth. Cold seaweed soup links to birthday traditions and ocean myths.
Technology on Stage
A robotic eel moves through the stage and sings a ballad.
Koo sees eels as metaphors for migration: they leave home, travel far, and return before dying.
One rice cooker sings and argues — a symbol of economic pressure after South Korea’s 1990s crisis.
In his earlier show, Cuckoo, he used rice cookers to show how financial stress shaped society. He cradles one like a child, listening to a message from his father.
From Language to K-pop
Koo studied theatre in Korea, where traditions were conservative — limiting innovation.
He now brings technology and non-human elements into performance.
His next project will examine K-pop — a genre with strong social power. Fans used music and glow sticks to protest former President Yoon’s martial law in 2024.
This show won’t feature Koo. It will be performed by singers — a shift to reflect how pop culture shapes society.
He acknowledges K-pop’s dark side — including exploitation — while seeing it as a form of political expression.
Why This Matters
Koo sees theatre as a space for shared thought and emotional connection.
He turns mealtimes into metaphors — a Korean tradition where people greet each other with, ‘Did you have a good meal?’
By blending food, technology, and global pop culture, Koo invites audiences to reflect on identity, migration, and belonging.
Haribo Kimchi premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival. A review of the show is available at The Guardian.
Koo’s work reflects a broader trend in contemporary theatre — using technology and cultural fusion to explore identity and global connection.
Sources & further reading
Featured image: Origami robot by Jaha Koo.jpg by Achima90, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Image source · License
